Larxene and the Millennium Ring
by Shadow Crystal Mage
Summary: [mild YuGiOh xover] Larxene gets lost on her way back to the Organization, and ends up in the shop of a certain crazy witch named Yûko. There, she winds up buying the Millennium Ring, containing the spirit of our favorite Magician Girl...
1. ‘The Witch’s Shop’ or ‘How I Met Yûko’

A/N: I hate too much inspiration…

This is the result of wanting to write someone with a Millennium Ring one too many times… a Ring with a twist, that is. I wanted to write yet _another_ Harry, but figured that five running Harry's was already too much. And I've always thought Larxene was cute (even though that thought has been tempered by the realization she kinda looks like Malfoy and Quicksilver from **_X-men: Evolution_**)…

Larxene is my favorite Organization member, with Marluxia a distant second, and only because he wields a scythe. I like scythes…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Larxene and the Millennium Ring

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Chapter 1: 'The Witch's Shop' or 'How I Met Yûko'

Disclaimer: I don't own, please don't sue. This is set between KH1 and CoM. Around there, anyway…

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

The first thought that went through Larxene's head was, _I am **never** telling anyone about this._

Everyone knows most bad guys have cool teleportation powers. The Organization XIII, by some criteria, were bad guys. Hence, they get to use those cool portals that allow to get places and dramatically escape from the hero but, for some reason, which they never use when death is imminent…

Ahem.

Anyway, Larxene had been using one of said portals to get back to The World That Never Was when she ran into some kind of storm that had been going through the corridors of darkness. As is the nature of storms, it sent her wildly off course.

To Larxene's knowledge, no one in the Organization has ever had this happen to them. While she really couldn't feel embarrassed, since see didn't have a heart to _feel_ embarrassed with, she just _knew_ that Axel and Demyx would never let her live this down.

How one can have a sick sense of humor without a heart was a mystery for the ages. Maybe they were just _really_ good actors…

Groaning, because it was the appropriate thing to do in such a situation, Larxene looked around, wondering where the heck she'd ended up. It looked like a store. There were various displays around her and–

As Larxene was getting back on her feet, she accidentally stepped on the hem of her own robe– promptly adding another thing to the list of things she'll never tell anyone about; she'd never seen _anyone_ else trip on these things– and sending her crashing into the display case behind her.

"Sold!" a voice said.

Larxene blink-blinked, wondering where the big-chested woman in the tight dress had come from, and what the heck did she mean by 'sold'…?

She soon found out as Larxene became the proud new owner of a wrist-mounted device (which she'd damaged by knocking it out of it's display case and scratching the finish so, of course she had to buy it), an ancient piece of jewelry (which was what the wrist-mounted device had bumped up against), and a whole box of playing card booster packs (special discount and comes with the deal).

And thus was how Larxene learned that one can never go into Yûko's store without buying something. Even against their will. _Especially_ against their will…

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A long, long time later, Larxene finally closed the door on her room and sighed in relief. Falling back against the closed portal as she gave in to physical exhaustion, she came to the conclusion that this one just One Of Those Days.

The feeling– um, excuse me– _physical sensation_ of something cutting into her fingers finally reminded her of the fact she was carrying a heavy bag. With a grimace, Larxene threw the bag containing her, ahem, 'forced purchases', across the room. Useless trash. That old hag was probably set on making a quick buck.

She vaguely considered tossing a Thundaga at it, but paused. Among the things forced on her had been a rather gaudy– in her humble opinion– piece of gold jewelry. While the cheap leather strap really wasn't that becoming, the gold itself would stand out against her robes quite nicely.

It had been the only reason she hadn't dumped the bag on the way back.

Striding across the room, Larxene used one of her _kunai_ to neatly slit the bag all the way through, causing it's contents to come falling out. It was a mark of the durability of it's construction that the Duel Disk had survived the throw completely intact. The box of packs was looking slightly squashed, though.

Reaching underneath the two, Larxene pulled out a flat, rather wide square jewelry case. The bitch at the store had been nice enough to put the final item in it. Larxene wondered again why she hadn't blasted her when she had the chance…

Shrugging off the thought, Larxene unlocked the case, snapping it open. Inside, a wide golden ring with an upward pointing triangle inside it lay. Five metal tassels hung from the ring, and a stylized eye shone from the center of the figure. The Millennium Ring, the bitch had called it.

A bit flashy, but it wasn't half-bad. Larxene held it up to eye level. Someone had polished it recently. She could see her reflection on the thing! Slipping the leather cord around her neck– maybe she should get it changed?– Larxene examined herself in the mirror.

Not bad. Not bad at all…

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Number Thirteen passed Larxene, paused, and did a double take. "Hey, Larxene, where'd you get that?"

Larxene smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know, pip squeak."

Blue eyes glowered at Larxene's retreating back. Grumbling, the Key of Destiny went off to look for Axel. At least _he'd_ have nicer things to say…

The Superior passed by Larxene, paused, and did a double take. "Is that new, Larxene? Very nice. It suits you."

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_Darkness. Not very surprising, really. Darkness was to be expected, here in this place. In fact, darkness was the **only** thing to be expected in this place. _

_No, what _was_ surprising was that there seemed to be more darkness than there usually was. A lot more… _

**_OH! _**

_It looked like there was company._

_That was good. It was lonely, being the Spirit of the Ring… _

_Slowly, furtively, getting used to being awake and active again after sleeping for so long– how long **had** it been?– the Spirit of the Ring began to make it's way out of the deepest recesses of it's Soul Room, towards the one the Ring seemed to have chosen… _

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Warmth. It was strange, but ever since she'd put on the Ring, it had felt unusually warm. Yet whenever she touched it, the metal was as cold as ever.

Larxene put the thought out of her mind as she lay around her library, reading her smutty little books. While the Marquis de Sade was known to by the namesake of sadism, his actual written works had more to do with sex. Very kinky forms of it, really. Deviant. Her favorite among his works was 'Philosophy in the Bedroom'.

Which she currently wasn't reading. No, right now, she was reading a little orange book from a world that had recently been overrun. 'Make Out Paradise' indeed…

Still, she couldn't help but unconsciously raise her hand to the Ring as she read, her fingers stroking it slowly.

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A few days later, Larxene got bored.

With nothing else to do, she'd idly picked up the box of packs, still where she'd left it half in, half out of the slit bag. Colorful letters proclaimed it a box of 'Duel Monsters' booster packs. Well, that didn't tell her anything. Dropping the box carelessly on the floor, next to the empty jewelry case the Millennium Ring had come in, Larxene picked up the Duel Disk that had been the cause of everything. The scratch in the finish was still there…

Wait a minute.

Larxene turned the Disk around. A deck of cards was inserted into one of the big slots, probably more of those Duel Monster cards. Impulsively, Larxene pulled out one.

Hmm. The artwork wasn't too shabby, although the close-up shot was rather uninspired, and there weren't too many details…

Yet for some disturbing reason, she felt like the card was _looking_ at her.

Shuddering, Larxene put the card back. Eyeing the Duel Disk still cradled in her hands, she shrugged. Well, she _was_ bored. Time to kill and all. Maybe she'd go look for Luxord. Would _he _know what these cards were for…?

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The Gambler of Fate was fleecing Demyx of his munny in the lounge when Larxene walked in with the Duel Disk under her arm. "Hey, Luxord. Got a minute?"

The two looked up from their game at her entry. "Hey, Larxene. Very nice," Demyx said, eyeing the Millennium Ring.

Luxord nodded agreement. "It suits you."

"Thanks. Hey, Luxord, you know what these cards are for?" Larxene asked.

Luxord looked at them idly, then did a double take. "Is that a Duel Disk in your hands?"

"Um, yeah?"

The Gambler of Fate grinned. "Finally, another Duelist! Wanna do a couple of duels, Number XII?"

"I might if I actually knew what you're talking about," Larxene said.

Luxord blinked, pausing in the middle of pulling out a Duel Disk like Larxene's out of… somewhere. "You don't know how to duel?"

"That's why I'm asking you!"

It turned out that Luxord had gotten hooked on Dueling just before the world the game came from was destroyed. He was good, as Larxene found out, but only because he kept pulling out just the right card for the situation.

For example…

"Draw!" Luxaord cried as he pulled out the card. He took one look at it and grinned. "I activate Raigeki!"

And 'poof' (or was it 'Kuri!'?)! All of Larxene's (rather pathetic) defense Kuribos were blown away.

"Black Luster Soldier, attack!"

The really annoying part? This was only Luxord's second turn.

Still, Larxene wasn't really the kind to give up just like that. She hadn't been before she became a Nobody, why should she change now?

Placing a hand atop her deck, she drew her card, trying to ignore the crowd she had Luxord had drawn in the scant minute and a half they've been playing (Demyx had been busy). Thirteen was definitely rooting for Luxord, and of course Eight was there to back up his buddy. Vexen and Marluxia had somehow been pulled from their various researches and were watching with– or so they would claim– 'professional' curiosity. Heck, even the Superior was there!

Larxene looked at the card she'd just drawn, and raised an eyebrow. Looks like she had a way to save her dignity after all– or at least, what was left of it. "I activate Curtain of Dark Magic, and use it to bring the Dark Magician Girl to the field!"

The figure in the card Larxene had drawn when she first picked up the Duel Disk in her room appeared on the field. Well, it really didn't just appear. Not right away. Unlike the other cards so far, summoning the Dark Magician Girl seemed to involve a lot of pink and heart-shapes and surreal, rainbow-y backgrounds, before finally settling into a pose somewhere between cute and sexy. And giggling while doing so!

Larxene twitched slightly as Demyx and Axel wolf-whistled at the figure, while Marluxia was dryly complementing her on her excellent choice of monsters. There went her dignity. No way was it going to be protected by an underdressed, overstuffed, ditzy blonde!

_Hey, I resent that…_

Larxene blinked, frantically looking around at the voice that she was barely sure she heard. Seeing as no one in the vicinity seemed to have heard anything, she shrugged it off as her imagination (_that_ at least, hadn't gone with her heart). Besides, there was no one in the castle whose pitch was even close to that…

Distracted, she ended her turn prematurely, but was promptly brought back to the fore as Luxord attacked her Dark Magician Girl– which, since she had been forgetful, was still in attack position. Larxene's last five hundred life-points promptly went bye-bye to a rather annoying blinging as her monster was cut into pixels.

"And the winner, and still cham-peeene… LUXORD!" Demyx announced grandly, in perfect accompaniment to the idiot brigade's– read: Axel and friend– cheering (the cheers were more for Larxene's defeat than Luxord's victor).

Luxord posed. "Good duel, Larxene."

Larxene twitched again. "What is _that_?" she said, pointing at Luxord.

Luxord seemed confused for a moment before realizing what she was talking about. "Oh, this? It's my victory pose! All Duelists have one!"

Laxene blinked. "That's it! I'm never playing this game again!" she declared, trying to get the Duel Disk off her arm.

Which wasn't coming off.

"Need help with that?" Luxord said. Larxene flipped him off and stalked out of the room, still trying to get the Disk off her arm.

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"Idiots," Larxene muttered as she stalked through the halls, having still not managed to get her Duel Disk off. "Idiots, all of them! Especially Luxord!"

It was safe to say that Larxene was in– or at least doing a credible imitation thereof– a bad mood.

_Hmph, well, **you** were the one who went to **him**. You're just a sore loser…_

Larxene jumped, looking around wildly for the source of the voice that she'd _definitely_ heard that time. "Where are you? Show yourself!" she said, her knives snapping into her hands.

…

_You can **hear** me?_

"Of course I can!" Larxene said, her head still darting from side to side. "Where the heck are you?"

_Look down._

Larxene did. There was nothing to see but…

_My name is Mana. I am the Spirit of the Ring, and once-bearer of the Dark Magician Girl…_

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

**- To be continued... **

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

A/N: as Her Nymph-ness is dead by the time KH2 rolls around, all the exposition into her character that I can get at is locked in CoM. Fortunately, I have a bro who owns a copy. A pity. I would have loved to see Her Savage-ness in full 3D.

And yes, that is Mana, rather than Bakura, being the Spirit of the Ring. Why? Well, I happen to _like_ Dark Magician Girl! As for Luxord's deck… let's not go there.

According to one source, after High Priest Seto becomes Pharaoh, Mana becomes one of his priests, wielding the Ring. As what happened in the Memory World could be interpreted as having the effect of changing history (remember how messed up the world got during the 'Ultimate Dark Game'?), Mana's soul stays with the Ring after her death.

The Yu-Gi-Oh world is definitely an AU. Either Atem wins the ceremonial battle (leaving the Items up for grabs as they fall into the hole that mysteriously swallows them up and doesn't imply they're destroyed), or Bakura Ryou is actually the reincarnation of Bakura, who is awakened by the presence of a Millennium Item– let's say the Scales (Shadi lost them!)– while the Ring, which at one point came into Mana's possession, has her soul in it and was lost to time. The Ring eventually finds it's way to Yûko…

Either way, Bakura never gets his hands on the Ring after Mana gets it.

Hmmm… would Ka monsters (Duel Monsters) count as Heartless? After all, they _do_ come from the darkness of people…

And yes, the Marquis de Sade was a sex-writer, not a sadist. Those who got their info from wikipedia should check out the link with the Marquis' name…

Please review, C&C welcome. Send care of the Organization to Number XIV, Esceexem…

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off.


	2. Those Lacking Something

A/N: For those worried about Yugi and co, know that it's not the end for them. Remember, this is between KH1 and CoM (around there, anyway…). That means their world gets fixed around the same time everyone else's does.

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

Larxene and the Millennium Ring

by Shadow Crystal Mage

Chapter 2: Those Lacking Something…

Disclaimer: I don't own, please don't sue.

(Read '**_Harry Potter and the Collided Worlds_**' by **Sokai**, story id 2502930)

_My name is Mana. I am the Spirit of the Ring, and once-bearer of the Dark Magician Girl…_

Larxene frowned, grabbing the golden bauble hanging around her neck and began poking it.

_Um, what are you doing?_

"I'm looking for the speaker," Larxene said, feeling around the leather strap for some kind of sound-producing device. "This has got to be a joke. What, that bitch wasn't happy stealing my munny, she has to try and drive me insane too?"

_This isn't a joke…_

"Says the voice in my head."

_…_

_All right, point taken. But doesn't the fact that we're having this conversation mean anything?_

"For all I know," Larxene said, speaking into thin air as she began looking over the Duel Disk still stubbornly stuck to her arm, "_all_ Nobodies start to hear voices in their heads. That _would_ explain Saïx… and Marluxia… and Vexen… and the Superior… and–"

_And yet you are still looking for…?_

Maybe it wasn't voices. Maybe Nobodies just went insane, with no transition. That _would_ explain Saïx… and Marluxia… and Vexen… and the Superior… and–

_Heeeeeellooooooo!_

Larxene threw up her hands. "FINE!" she cried. "What do you want?"

There was a cough behind her. "Um, Larxene, Luxord wanted me to show you how to take your Duel Disk off…"

Larxene twitched. Slowly, she turned around, Zexion coming into view. "Did he now?" Larxene said airily, suddenly feeling very conscious of the fact her cheeks felt unusually warm. Damn her milky complexion!

Zexion nodded, striding towards her. She politely raised her arm to give him better access as he bent over slightly and began fiddling with something. There was a click and the constriction around her arm disappeared as the device came off.

Taking the Duel Disk in hand, Zexion turned it over and silently demonstrated how to put it on and off. He held it out to her.

Larxene hesitated a tick before taking it from him and tucking it under her arm. "Thank you," she said, just as airily as before.

Zexion nodded and turned to leave.

Immediately, Larxene did the same, her strides a bit longer and faster than the older member.

… _I think he heard you talking to me._

"Shut up," Larxene growled, then winced as she realized she said that out loud, and glanced furtively over her shoulder. Zexion was looking right at her.

Trying to maintain her composure– **_DAMN _**the heat on her cheeks!– Larxene moved faster.

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The minute she got back in her room, Larxene threw the Duel Disk away– it hit a wall and landed on her bed, fortunately– then grabbed the Millennium Ring. "All right, what's going on?" she demanded, looking more Savage than Nymph.

_Like I said, my name is Mana, and I'm the Spirit of the Ring–_

"I heard you the first time!" Larxene said. "_What are you talking about?_"

_LET ME FINISH! Anyway, congratulations. It seems the Ring has chosen you to be it's next wielder. _

"WHAT?"

_Lucky for you, really. The Millennium items don't pick just anybody. I ought to know: I used to wield it. So, glad to have you aboard–_

That's it. Larxene lost it. She started to yank the Millennium Ring over her head.

_Hey, what are you–_

Larxene was _this_ close to throwing the Ring away when everything suddenly seemed to stop.

The next thing she knew, she was standing in front of a girl with thick clumps of spiky brown hair and dark green eyes. She was wearing an exact copy of Larxene's Organization uniform, right down to the golden Ring hanging on her chest.

Larxene was on the girl instantly, grabbing the front of her robes with one hand as knives filled the other. "Where the heck am I?" she growled, lifting the shorter girl off her feet effortlessly as she brandished the _kunai_.

"We're in your mind," the girl said. "Now let me go!"

"Not 'til I get some answers!" Larxene said. She didn't notice how easily the threat came to her, or the growl that went with it. "What did you mean, 'the Ring chose me'?"

"The Millennium Ring chose you to be it's next wielder," the girl, Mana, said. "Apparently, it sees something in you I don't."

"Yay for me," Larxene said sarcastically. "So what? It chose me. Big deal. Unless it's some kind of Keyblade, I'm not interested. Now how do I get out of here?"

"Meanie," Mana said, pouting.

There was a moment of disorientation as Larxene suddenly found herself back in her room. She was still holding the Millennium Ring above her head, ready to throw.

Without hesitation, she pitched it out the window and dusted her hands. "There. Good riddance."

Slumping down on her bed, she reached for one of the orange books she'd been reading recently. As she lay back to read, a slight frown marred her face, one that was slightly forced. She felt different somehow…. Empty.

Not that she didn't usually feel that way, but it seemed more pronounced now, somehow.

Shrugging it off, Larxene went on to read her book. She wondered if this Jiraiya guy survived the destruction of his world. Maybe he became a Heartless? After all, all that perversion had to be dark somehow.

She hoped his Nobody ended here…

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While there was no night in the World That Never Was– since it was perpetually dark– there _was_ a mandatory sleep cycle, an established nocturnal period when the members of the Organization slept and did all the things that were usually done in the night– in Vexen and Marluxia's case, lose sleep over research. Few of the lower-order Nobodies roamed the halls.

Thus, no one noticed the little spot of gold seem to sneak into the castle and into Larxene's room…

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When Larxene woke up, the first thing she noticed was the Ring around her neck.

_Hi again_, Mana's voice said cheerfully.

Larxene sat frozen for a whole minute before ripping it off her neck and throwing it out the same window as before.

She found it lying on her chair come lunch, glinting innocently. This time, she threw it into the incinerator.

At dinner, there was a Millennium Ring on her plate.

Losing her not-exactly-infinite patience, Larxene opened a corridor of darkness and pitched it in.

Three days later, Demyx came back from a mission carrying the Ring and wondering how she lost it. He never found out why she kicked him in the groin.

Finally, in desperation, she picked an out-of-the-way-world, dropped it into molten metal, dropped the solid slag of iron into a pit, and covered the pit with tons of rock.

A week later, Vexen was reporting on another world destroyed. Casually, he mentioned finding 'Larxene's lost trinket' and slid it over to her end of the table. Larxene's elegant eyebrow twitched.

"Man, you're pretty careless with that thing," Demyx said. "You keep losing it so often…"

That meeting, Larxene broke the fourth-level spell barrier. Demyx was the first victim of her Thundaja. The musician barely survived.

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"You take perverse pleasure in doing this, don't you?" Larxene growled into empty air from the solitude of her room.

_It's not me,_ Mana said cheerily. _It's the Ring._

"I could just destroy this, you know," Larxene said, grasping the Ring so hard in her hands her tendons stood out.

_You do that…_

"When the Superior finds out about you, Vexen and Marluxia are going to tear you apart."

_And what exactly are you going to say? "Boss, I have a piece of jewelry stalking me"?_ The amusement was so thick, you could have used it to paint something.

Larxene twitched. The stupid voice had a point.

_Face it roomie, we're stuck together until you die._

For the first time in her non-existence, Larxene seriously considered suicide.

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Over the next couple of days, Larxene came to a startling conclusion: once she got used to the fact she heard a dead person's voice in her head, and the fact she was currently wearing a piece of jewelry that had exhibited signs of stalker mentality, Mana was actually tolerable company. The spirit had a mischievous streak a mile wide, and Larxene found herself using the girl's ideas on her favorite targets; namely, the red-headed hot-head and his eternal flunky. The display of Zexion's weapon, for example, was destroyed during a prank that involved fish, steel cable used as fishing line, superglue, and a two-ton weight.

The key word, however, was 'tolerable'. Mana had the annoying habit of singing really annoying nonsensical songs at the most ungodly times, leaving them ringing in Larxene's ears for hours after the fact. There was one about love and loving and being a happy family that had Number XII going back to the suicidal thoughts.

In response, Larxene would start reading her porn out loud, listening in sadistic pleasure as the spirit almost literally _cringed_ at the words. Prude.

Of course, a few too many of these reading incidents had her dragged in front of the Superior, who gave her a lecture on being more 'sensitive' to her fellow Nobodies and not read her lurid books out loud where everybody could hear her, and could she read in silence like an adult, for crying out loud? They had no hearts, sure, but that didn't mean they didn't get turned on.

From then on, Larxene read with extreme prejudice. The other members soon knew to turn around and go far, _far _away whenever they saw her with a book in hand. Torturing Axel never got easier.

There was a strange side effect to all this though, one that Larxene was initially concerned about. On occasions, her chest began feeling unusually warm. She didn't notice it often, usually after the fact, but when she did, she was hard-pressed to recognize what it was. She felt she _should_ know, the way one in their sixties should know how to play a musical piece they practiced to _ad infinitum_ when they were ten. But the warmth would always pass, and she put it out of her mind. She had more important things to worry about after: pranks and porn!

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Between souls, there exists a corridor. The corridor wasn't real in the physical sense, and neither were the rooms. Yet exist they did, in the inner darkness that harbored secrets and deeply kept remembrances. And promises. Let's not forget promises.

The hallway was devoid of persons, yet neither was it empty. From one room, something red and pulsing arched. It would have been nearly invisible to the eye, yet that did not mean it wasn't there. From one room to another it stretched, a small, seemingly insignificant thread…

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Demyx searched the halls of the castle gingerly, looking for someone he'd really rather not be looking for. Though technically he was higher-ranked than her, it was kind of difficult to be firm with someone who once kicked you in the balls. And nearly fried you with some super lightning spell. He still wondered what had gotten her panties in a knot…

Deciding not to think about that– or panties in general, since Larxene had been reading out loud again after breakfast– Demyx went back to what he was doing, which was finding said blonde.

It really wasn't difficult, more like tedious. For some reason, the castle now contained lots and lots of big earthen pots, big enough for a person to fit in. And Larxene now liked to hide in them.

Demx found her hiding in the two hundredth fifty-eighth one he checked in. She was curled up and playing some kind of game on her recently acquired Gameboy SP. Chain of something-or-other.

She must have been practicing a lot to get a look of annoyance as good as the one she gave him. "What?" she said.

Practicing a lot. She even sounded annoyed.

Tamping down on his body's natural self-preservation instinct, Demyx did his best to be authoritative. "The Superior wants you to investigate a world," he said, holding out a folder and being very careful not to drop it on top of her head. "There are reports of a possibly powerful being. He wants to know the viability of recruiting it."

Recruiting. Such a sanitary turn of turning a being into a Heartless in order to gain it's Nobody.

Grumbling, Larxene crawled out of her hiding place and grabbed the file, looking it over. "Fine," she said, sounding pretty annoyed as she headed out.

Yup, Demyx thought as he observed XII. She'd definitely been practicing.

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_He's kinda cute,_ Mana said as they got ready to leave.

Larxene twitched. _DON'T EVEN JOKE ABOUT THAT! _she said in her mind, making herself loud and clear.

The only response was a giggle.

Still twitching, Larxene opened a corridor of darkness and stepped through. The giggles abruptly stopped.

_H-hey,_ Mana said. _Where are we?_

"Corridors of Darkness," Larxene said aloud. Hey, no one was there to hear her and call her crazy, right? "It's a passageway between Worlds that those who use darkness can pass through."

_I feel weird… dirty…_

A thought struck Larxene. "It's probably degrading your Heart," Larxene said as she moved. "It does that. That must mean you still have one. Interesting…"

_Why aren't **you** affected?_

"I don't have a Heart."

_Oh… I'm sorry._

"Why should you be?" Larxene said. "I'm not."

She was lying, of course. That had been the reason she joined the Organization in the first place. The promise of a Heart. A promise, not a hope. Hope, after all, was for those who could feel, and she certainly couldn't…

Knocking herself out of the philosophical funk, Larxene kept moving, ignoring the cold starting to creep into her, or Mana's fidgeting as the darkness ate away…

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Larxene and Mana found themselves in Hawaii.

Currently, the Savage Nymph was watching a blue… something on a leash being held by a little dark skinned girl. Since Larxene would usually cause a sensation if she went around watching someone in her normal garb, the blonde had exchanged her usual look for a flower-patterned swimsuit and a wrap skirt. Plus, really, it was Hawaii. Kind of a stupid place to wear a heavy, possibly leather, black coat. Larxene might be heartless (well, actually, she's a Nobody, but they don't have Hearts… you get the idea), but she wasn't stupid. That thing would bake her. Plus, the swimsuit looked very nice on her. The Millennium Ring around her neck attracted some looks, though, slightly encouraged by the fact the package it was draped on was pretty appealing in it's own right.

So far, she'd kicked three guys in the groin for not taking no for an answer, and five more so they wouldn't ask.

"That's what they want to recruit?" Larxene said, for the moment ignoring the fact people might hear as she looked from the blue… thing to the file she held and back again. "You've got to be kidding me. That thing's a plush toy! I've seen scarier Moogles."

_Don't diss it because of how it looks,_ Mana said. _I once heard of a girl who held a power nearly equal to a god._

"Is she still around?" Larxene inquired as they walked along.

_No, she died thousands of years ago._

"Pity. We could have used her Nobody."

Mana snickered. _No, you couldn't._

Larxene gave her the mental equivalent of a raised eyebrow, but no clarification was forthcoming.

They watched as the girl and the apparent attempt at a dog– at least, that's what Larxene heard the girl call it when someone asked– encountered what looked like a cross between an elephant and a land-shark. Then things got interesting…

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"Six hundred twenty six?" Xenmas said.

Larxene nodded. "That's correct. They all posses abilities ranging from destructive to really stupid, but each and every single one is designed to cause chaos and mayhem. The Heartless and Nobody of 626 alone would be immensely useful for our plans."

Xenmas nodded slowly. "And they're all isolated on an island…"

The Superior thought for a moment, leaving Larxene trying to fight boredom. "You have done well, Number XII. Tell Zexion to come in. I will have him handle the recruitment."

Larxene nodded, glad to be out of the Superior's office. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't like that place. And Xenmas gave her the creeps, for some reason reminding her of someone she'd heard of named Michael Something-or-other.

_He's creepy_, Mana said as if reading her mind, her presence still sounding weak from their last journey through the Corridors.

_He's my boss,_ Larxene said, after assigning a Dusk to go get Zexion. _And now, he's your boss too._

She heard something that sounded like a weak sniff. _He's no boss of mine. I obey only the Pharoah._

_And who is this 'Pharaoh'?_ Larxene asked.

Another sniff. _That's none of your business!_

Larxene snorted in contempt and turned a blind mental ear to the loud accusations she was being a meanie. At least the voice was being more energetic now. She'd been starting to get worried…

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_Hey, Larxene?_ Mana said.

"Hmm?" was the response, Larxene paying only half a mind as she read.

_Why_ _don't you have your own Nobodies?_

Larxene blinked at the question. _What?_

_Well, I mean, the others have their own nobodies. The Samurais, Dancers, Assassins, Sorcerers, Berserkers… why don't you have your own? _

Larxene shrugged. "Not enough to go around, I guess."

_Why not?_

Again, a shrug. "Just 'cause. Besides, I really don't want any. It'll cut in on my reading time."

(Truthfully, Larxene was once offered leadership of the Ninja Nobodies, but the Sound Ninjas wouldn't get along with the other Ninjas, especially the Leaf, and Sand Ninjas, one thing had lead to another, and all the Ninjas had tried to kill each other overnight. What little that was left in the morning had been thrown in the Dusk Pit.)

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"Hey, Luxord," Larxene said as she walked into the lounge.

Luxord looked up, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

Larxene pointed at him. "I challenge you to a Duel."

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"She has been acting strangely. I suggest we continue the observation," Vexen said.

Xenmas nodded. "Very well."

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In an empty corridor, a thread arched. It stretched between two doors, pulsing as if with some hidden beat. Yet it wasn't alone. For between the two doors, nearly invisible to the naked eye, stretched other threads, each pulsing at the same time, seemingly infinite in number.

If one listened carefully behind one door, you'd hear someone singing at the top of their voice, trying to drown out the gleeful sounds of someone reading aloud from a book of pornography…

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Out in the city, the Heartless twitched, attracted by an instinctive hunger…

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**- To be continued...**

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A/N: Larxene is being the way she is for a very good reason, which you might find out next chap.

Ever wondered _why_ the darn Ring kept popping up on Bakura, no matter how many times they tried to get rid of it? Because it's _stalking him…_

Poor Larx. Well, at least she got a _nice_ spirit.

I'm not sure if there's an explanation for what happened to Stich's world. This is my take.

_Please_ tell me someone caught the references this time…

Please review, C&C welcome. I'd rather have the DMG, though…

Until next time, this is Shadow, signing off. By the way, there's a funny Larxene omake in my other fic, **_Sakura's Harem_**, to be found in my profile. Summary: what happens when, despite all logic, everyone who sees her falls in love with Larxene.


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